Police and relatives say an argument over Tony Hawk: Ride precipitated a shocking murder in New York; Anthony Maldonado, 9, (pictured) who got a PS3 for Christmas, was stabbed in the chest by an enraged 25-year-old early New Year's Day.

The specifics of what sent Alejandro Morales, 25, into a murderous rage are unclear. The attack happened at 3:30 a.m. The Daily News of New York spoke to the dead boy's family and they leave no doubt that an argument over the game was the cause.

"Anthony was playing ... on PlayStation when his friend came and stabbed him. My grandson died over a video game," Antonio Juela, 59, Anthony's grandfather, told the Daily News.

Police said Anthony was slashed in the face and stabbed several times, indicating there may have been a struggle before he was stabbed in the chest. He was taken to the hospital but died within an hour.

Anthony had been playing Tony Hawk: Ride with Morales and two men whom Anthony's parents said were Morales' brothers. The three rent an apartment in the same building, they said. At some point, two of the brothers left to go get something to eat, leaving Morales with the boy. The attack occurred while they were alone and Anthony's family was asleep.

This is a sickening and sad story, and you can't read about a 25-year-old man doing anything to a fourth-grader, much less attacking him with a knife, without feeling a powerful revulsion, if not outright hatred of the accused.

But while I don't mean to be "that guy," the video game is only incidental to the cause here. A violent man willing to stab a 9-year-old over such a trivial argument could have killed him or anyone else for any of several other reasons. It's still a very sad and germane detail - a child stabbed while playing a game he got for Christmas - but it's not the reason.